Home Forums Guitar Discussion Guitar Round about route to an eBay question…

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  • #24007
    vitaminE
    Participant

    Hey guys!

    Recently someone posted several clips on You-Tube of The Replacements ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Replacements ) from a very early gig at the 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis. Tommy Stinson was 16 at the time and had to get a note from his mom to play the job. These clips from 1981 are absolutely brilliant. Anyway, at the show Bob Stinson, my favorite unconventional guitar hero, is playing what appears to be a copy of a Fender Esquire – I used to own a Fender Japan reissue but that’s another story. Easily influenced by others, I started looking around on eBay for a similar instrument to make my own.

    Having never seriously considered buying an instrument from eBay, I came up with the following questions:

    How do you know the instrument you’re bidding on isn’t a fake?

    It was -5 F. here in northern MN this morning. Is it wise to have a guitar shipped in cold weather?

    I’ve had a lot of luck expanding my collection of old hand planes using eBay. Can I expect a similar positive experience when it comes to guitars?

    Any insight / advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Viewing 16 reply threads
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    • #67508
      1bassleft
      Participant

      It reminds me of a bike mag cartoon. Someone is asking the guy at the door “I understand you have a chopped, lengthened Vincent Black Shadow for sale?” and, hidden round the corner, are a lot of blokes in tweeds and goggles clutching shotguns.

      It’s better seen than described, of course, but it cracked me up.

    • #67530
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Dont know if i should cringe or cry.

    • #67550
      vitaminE
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]Vit, you have to change your UN to Sid Philips.[/quote]

      I was just messin’ with you, Lee. Back in the day, one of my high school English instructors played guitar in a popular local cover band. He was heavily influenced by Buddy Holly and had an amazing arsenal of pre-CBS Strats and Teles from the late 50’s and early 60’s which he had acquired while in high school and college.

      In the late 80ies when his band was at its peak, the only “luthier” in town was an apprentice violin maker. His main source of business was maintaining orchestra instruments for the local schools. Unfortunately, he also worked on electric guitars; a vocation for which he had little insight and no training.

      For whatever reason, this teacher hired the violin guy to modify his two main stage instruments – a 1958 Stratocaster and a 1964 Telecaster. He wanted a Kahler bridge put on the tele and he wanted a Kahler bridge on the strat in addition to a new paint job, and so these two classic instruments were butchered. The tele bridge was installed slightly crooked and the strat had its beautiful tobacco sunburst sanded off and a hideous two tone sunburst applied in its place along with a new bridge – strictly amateur jobs that all but destroyed both guitars.

      It’s my understanding that word of these atrocities spread rapidly and that other musicians were showing up at the guy’s jobs just to gawk at him and his ruined Fenders. As far as I know this was the extent of his efforts to customize his guitars. I took a valuable lesson from this.

      Each strat that I have is modified, but all the old parts are carefully stored and labled and nothing is done that can’t be undone – no routing, cutting pick-guards, etc. You just never know what the value of something will be down the line…

    • #67556
      youngwasp
      Member

      Now that is a coincidence! I was only just saying in the old hand plane forum how my collection has expanded by perusing eBay. Small world or what?

    • #67554
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Vit, you have to change your UN to Sid Philips. Anyone remember ‘Toy Story’ at least i think his name was Sid Philips.

    • #67565
      vitaminE
      Participant

      Sorry! My mistake.

      I recently (last summer, I think) played one of these strats with the small headstock at a local music store. It was hanging with the Mexicans, seemed to play like one, and was similarly priced; hence my incorrect assumption. It wasn’t great and by no means exempt from some EVH-style customization. Really just the question of which Porter-Cable to use…

    • #67562
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Well done glw at last someone talking some sense!! 😯
      I have no objection to the hacking up of USA, Mexican, Chinese, Indonesian, Or Indian Fenders, but when it comes down to the FAR superior Japanese models, then i have to draw the line. 😈

    • #67568
      glw
      Participant

      [quote=”vitaminE”]Take it easy, Lee!

      I’m fairly certain that Fender produced a brief run of pink paisley and blue floral Mexican strats and teles at some point in the last couple years.
      [/quote]

      No, they were always Japanese, even the more recent ones where they changed the Strat headstock to the smaller variety.

    • #67516
      Michael
      Participant

      Sure it’s floral, but you can’t discount it because it reminds you of Daisy Rock. Fender and floral combined does have some cred.

    • #67566
      vitaminE
      Participant

      My fondness for the pink paisley strat that I have and the blue floral tele that I’ve come to covet can be attributed to my early fascination with 3 guitars wielded by 3 of my favorite guitar players:

      Jimmy Page’s 1958 “Dragon Telecaster”

      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE2d/1page-tele.JPG

      Eric Clapton’s “Fool Guitar” SG

      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE2d/1Psycsg.JPG

      and Jimi Hendrix’s Psychedelic Flying V

      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE2d/1imi.JPG

      I always thought those patterns were more like the weird amoebic shapes moving around in the background of an old Jefferson Airplane video than actual flowers. However, after perusing the Daisy Rock site, I’m thinking maybe I should quit mincing about and get a black B.C. Rich Warlock instead.

    • #67518
      1bassleft
      Participant

      I’ve always like the pink paisley but the blue floral does make me think of those awful “Daisy Rock” guitars. Sorry, not Fender’s nor your problem but I can’t help making that mental association.

    • #67514
      vitaminE
      Participant

      Take it easy, Lee!

      I’m fairly certain that Fender produced a brief run of pink paisley and blue floral Mexican strats and teles at some point in the last couple years. Also, I’d install stacked humbuckers to avoid any serious damage – who could put such a pretty lady under a router?

      #http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE2d/fenderBlueFloralTele.jpg

      Geez, it bothers me to find this instrument so appealing.

      As for the grandkids; when they enter my music room they’ll be rendered speechless… 😉

    • #67542
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Blue floral Tele would be a Japanese one, any kind of hacking would be sacrilage. Think of what your grandchildren would say.

    • #67407
      vitaminE
      Participant

      [quote=”lee_UK”]
      Have you considered Tokai 1980’s telecasters? or maybe the Fender squire Jap JV series from the early 80’s? they are excellent guitars.
      you can get both for quite reasonable money and both offer excellent investment, and of course they play and sound fantastic, not that i’m a Tokai / Squier fan :lol:[/quote]

      My Fender Esquire was a 1985 Jap Reissue. It had one of the fastest necks I’ve ever played and was a really solid guitar. The problem was the color – it was an awful pale yellow that was officially called butterscotch blonde but looked more like a paint job mistake. Unfortunately, Metal ruled the day and I got rid of it and ended up with a cobalt blue Charvel model 5 – soooo stupid. The Esquire supposedly ended up with the guy from the band Highway 101.

      Since posting this question my attention has turned from an Esquire to instead picking up a blue floral Tele with a maple neck and outfitting it with all new black hardware and high-output humbuckers with push / pull coil tap pots; possibly another “soooo stupid” idea.

    • #67424
      Michael
      Participant

      Use common sense and do some investigative work – you will be fine. Don’t buy a 6 grand Fender from a 0 feedback user in China.

    • #67415
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Ive had very positive experience buying and selling guitars on ebay, i must have bought 15 over the past couple of years, and ive had 1 bad guitar, a total pile of crap listed as a custom shop strat, it was anything but custom-shop, i phoned him up, drove round to his house and got my money back, but i think he would have paid me back through the official channels if i’d have asked him, but i didn’t want to take the chance.
      A few rules, make sure the seller has a few sales behind him, i would be very wary of giving money to a ‘0’ feedback ebayer, unless of course i was driving to pick it up and was paying cash.
      check out the guitar for sale, ask for a specific photo of it, maybe the guitar facing downwards in the case, this ensures he actually has the guitar in his possession.
      Get the serial number and check it against manufacturers websites, if he says he bought it 10 years ago and the s/no checks to be last years model, you know something is up.
      Check his feedback from other buyers too.

      Have you considered Tokai 1980’s telecasters? or maybe the Fender squire Jap JV series from the early 80’s? they are excellent guitars.
      you can get both for quite reasonable money and both offer excellent investment, and of course they play and sound fantastic, not that i’m a Tokai / Squier fan 😆

    • #67391
      1bassleft
      Participant

      Nice to see you back, Toco. I’ve bought a few instruments off the Fleeb without anything terribly bad happening. It depends on whether you’re settling for the Mexican re-issue. Obviously, originals are high-value items and the potential for a frauding increases. If you are willing to put several thousand down for an original, then best to post it up here for others to look over. Most of the RI sales should be legit but, again, post up for an opinion.

      I don’t think shipping even in such extreme cold will be too much of a major. I’d ask for the strings to be detuned at least a tone and allow for the guitar to stay in its packing in your house 24hrs to acclimatize before unwrapping and having a play. Difficult, when a new toy arrives but it’ll prevent the outside chance of a shock to the system
      (or your fingers sticking to the strings 😆 )

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